A Dallas season ticket holder known only as Peggy—who I'm assuming is one of ladies picture here—was sitting behind La La Vazquez at Game 4 and refutes her claims of racist taunts from Maverick fans. Peggy claims that the whole ruckus started when La La's "bodyguard" turned around and insulted her first. Then the rest of the fans in the vicinity jumped to Peggy's defense and the whole thing escalated from there.

She said the only time any Mavs fan touched Vazquez was when a girl in Peggy's group accidentally brushed against her while reaching for a purse underneath her seat.

"Don't you ever (beep) touch me again!" Vazquez responded, according to Peggy, who added that Vazquez also flicked soda on them at that point.

"If that would have been any other fan, they would have been tossed out long before that girl was," Peggy said. "That little girl needed attention. Apparently, she's a has-been whatever."

See? Totally classy. Peggy also claims she was at Game 2 in Denver and had a pleasant chat with Lydia Moore. Kenyon Martin's mom is one of the good ones ... Nuggets fans, I mean.

Game 5 is tonight back in Colorado, but Mark Cuban will not be there because he has urgent business in Las Vegas. Will Peggy take his place? Let's hope so, because this whole series is cursed. There's the Dirk "unpleasantness," Chris Anderson's food poisoning and Antoine Wright had $120,000 worth of jewelry stolen from his home. I don't own $120,000 worth of anything, so I know how that must feel.

MFFL Peggy: LaLa Vazquez and her bodyguard were the instigators [Dallas Mavericks Blog]
Denver Nuggets Upset With Treatment From Dallas Mavericks Fans [CBS 11]
Dallas Mavericks' Antoine Wright reports nearly $120,000 in jewelry stolen from condo [Dallas Morning News]
Nuggets Family Members Probably Aren't Accepting That Apology Any Time Soon
You Can't Play With My La La

Ms. Vazquez, or just "La La" if you're hip enough, has had a distinguished career as a DJ, reality TV host, and playing herself in any movie that will have her. (I think "Soul Plane" was probably her most realistic portrayal of "Herself.") In basketball circles, she is also known as the fiancee of Mr. Carmelo Anthony, an engagement running over four years now. Anyway, she was asked to leave her courtside seat in Dallas last night after an unspecified "incident" with a couple of old white ladies sitting behind her.

It seems that things at the American Airlines Center were actually much uglier than we realized last night. In addition to Vazquez, Maverick fans got into shouting matches with Kenyon Martin's mom (there was even a report that someone threw a beer on her) and Martin's girlfriend, Trina. Martin himself was distracted by the incidents during the game and a Denver assistant actually went into the stands during the game to check on their own fans.

Asked if the game was hostile, [Coach George] Karl said: "I would probably use an uglier word than hostile. I don't think (the fans) were very classy."

We also missed this moment after the game, when Martin shouted at Cuban on the court, calling him a "faggot motherfucker." I wonder if that will come up at dinner?

So either Cuban had an epiphany later that evening—he didn't seem too distressed by the fan behavior immediately after the game—or he's trying to protect his own life when the series goes back to Denver. Either way, there's enough embarrassment to go around for everyone!

Melo's Girl Escorted Away From Courtside [NBC Dallas-Fort Worth]
K-Mart Calls Cuban Fa**ot M-F'er [NBC Dallas-Fort Worth]
Cuban apologizes to Martin, mother in blog [WTVD]
Nuggets denied series sweep [Denver Post]
Mark Cuban Ready To Kiss and Make Up [Deadspin]

After his team survived a squeaker of an elimination game, Cuban logged into his internet web log in the wee hours of this morning to offer his apologies to Kenyon Martin and his mom, Lydia Moore. (Pictured here, laughing at silly Texans I assume.) Tempers flared, feelings were hurt, but it's nothing that a lovely sit-down dinner can't fix.

No one takes more abuse and gets more threats on the road than I do. So I know exactly how it feels. I've also had my family and friends spit on at games in this series....

When the series comes back to Dallas, your family, and the family of other Nuggets players are welcome to stay in my suite, with my family. Its amazing how tempers mellow when real people talk to each other and realize that its still just a game.

If that isn't acceptable, I'm happy to provide a suite, free of charge to them as well and place whatever security is needed to make them feel comfortable....

So if we can put this behind us, I will make sure when the series comes back to Dallas, your family and friends, and that of your teammates are very comfortable at our Arena.

Then I hope we both take the advice of your coach and can get together this summer. Dinner for you and your family is on me.

That's sweet. Of course, in order for his generous offer to take effect, the series would have to go back to Dallas and I'm not sure Dirk Nowitski has that many fourth-quarter outbursts left in him. Unless the guy is willing to do whatever it takes to avoid going back the crazy train that is his home life.

An Apology to Kenyon Martin's Mom [Blog Maverick]
Dirk's Dilemma: Broken Cristal [Dallas Basketball]

Game 3 between the Mavericks and Nuggets ended with the hilarious situation of a team crying about not getting a foul called on them in the final seconds. As Cuban left the floor in a huff, he noticed an angry Dallas fan screaming about the Nuggets players being "thugs." (Again, Dallas was the team trying to foul in the final seconds.) Cuban admits that he then turned to Kenyon Martin's mom, Lydia Moore, who seated nearby and added "That includes your son." But he totally had a good reason for it!

Cuban said by e-mail he knew Martin's mother, because after a previous game that Denver won, she had approached him and made trash-talk-type comments.

Oh, and the Martin boy was fined $25,000 for a hard foul on Dirk Nowitski in Game 1, so obviously Cuban is right about him. I think he and Moore should be forced to sit next each other tonight, with isolation cameras and microphones, because we all deserve to get something interesting out of this sweep.

Cuban admits to "thug" comment about K-Mart [Denver Post]
Kenyon Martin not happy with Mark Cuban [Dallas Morning News]
Mark Cuban Goes After Kenyon Martin's Mother [Pacman Jonesin']

Spotted: The NBA's Kenyon Martin, Gary Payton and Marcus Banks, surrounded by ice buckets of Cristal champagne at OPM (Forum Shops at Caesars) on Friday, while putting in early reservations to hold their 2007 NBA All-Star Game after-party at the club.

Sightings [Las Vegas Review Journal]